A communication system (e.g., a paging system 100), such as illustrated in FIG. 1, commonly accepts a page request from several different sources (e.g. a telephone 102, a page entry terminal device 104, and a computer with modem 106). The page request is normally accepted through a public or private telephone network 108, which couples the page request from one of the source (i.e. callers) to an automatic telephone input (110A, 110B, or 110C) at a paging terminal 112. Optionally, a dedicated input 114 at the paging terminal 112 can accept a page request from a local video display terminal (VDT) or console. The dedicated input 114 is usually assocated with a telephone switchboard and message dispatch service that accepts the page request from a telephone caller and enters the page request into the paging terminal 112 typically via the video display terminal.
After accepting the page request, the paging terminal 112 encodes and transmits, via a conventional transmitter 116, a page to a selective call receiver (e.g., a pager). Conventional paging systems may convey information from a caller to a pager user via a plurality of message formats. FIG. 1 illustrates a number of conventional selective call receivers that may convey information to the pager user via either an alphanumeric display message page 118, a numeric display message page 120, a voice message page 121, or a tone only page 122. In the latter case, the tone only page 122 (i.e., no message page), alerts (e.g., an audible beep), the user that a caller wants the pager user to respond by calling a prearranged telephone number, such as a receptionist telephone number.
A conventional selective call receiver commonly receives a page alerts the pager wearer, and optionally presents the message information according to a message format that is mapped to a pager address on the paging system. The unique pager address typically represents the message format (e.g., alphanumeric, numeric, voice, or tone only), supported by the selective call receiver. Therefore, by matching the unique pager address with the appropriately formatted message, a page with a specific message format may be effectively transmitted to the selective call receiver by the paging terminal 112.
Modern selective call receivers may be capable of receiving and presenting message information in a plurality of formats, typically using separate pager addresses mapped to the same selective call receiver. For example, one pager address may be mapped to a numeric display message format and a second pager address may be mapped to a voice message format. Therefore, information may be conveyed from a caller to the pager user in either numeric display message format or voice message format.
Hence, the aforementioned communication system 100 is capable of receiving message information in a plurality of formats. The message formats are mapped to unique pager addresses supported by the communication system. Where more than one pager addresss and message formal pairs are mapped to the same selective call receiver, information may be conveyed from a caller to a pager user in a plurality of message formats (e.g., alphanumeric display, numerical display, and voice).
The choice of message format to convey the information to the pager user is typically delegated to the caller, subject to the prearranged message formats that are mapped to the particular selective call receiver in the paging system 100. In the previous example, a caller may convey information to the pager user via either numeric display message format or voice message format. The choice of message format to use is commonly at the discretion of the caller. Typically, a telephone number is available for each valid message format mapped to the selective call receiver in the system 100. Therefore, the caller with knowledge of the two telephone numbers mapped to the exemplary selective call receiver may convey information to the pager user by entering either telephone number into the paging terminal 112 as part of the page request.
Specifically, one message format may have significant advantages over the other message format with respect to overall system performance and throughput; however, the caller is normally not encumbered with such information. The choice of message format may be consequently disadvantageous for meeting the performance demands of the overall system. When the system resources (e.g., paging terminal memory or communication channel capacity), in this example, are consumed to near capacity, the caller continues to have the choice of conveying information in either numeric display or voice message format. A regulation of messge format choices may typically result when the communication system begins rejecting incoming page requests due to lack of available system resources, Therefore, the caller may attempt to convey information in a requested message format and be frustrted with a system rejection of the page request. Subsequently, the caller may attempt again to convey the information in a different message format resulting possibly in another rejection, and so on until an eventual successful communication or the caller simply stops trying. The system resources and throughput are consequently minimally managed by this conventional "supply versus demand" mechanism .
Additionally, such a communication system 100 is also capable of measuring communication activity (i.e., communication traffic), and optionally reporting status. Communication activity may be monitored by a number of ways. For example, a ratio of the amount of time spent transmitting information over the communication channel versus the amount of communication channel idle time may serve to indicate a measure of communication activity. Alternately, a measure of system resources usage (e.g., a ratio of the amount of paging terminal 112 memory used up by current pages in process versus the toatal amount of memory available for storing page information) may be monitored as an indication of communication activity. Typically, the measure of communication activity is presented to a system operator via some form of indicator (e.g., lamps, light emitting diodes (LEDs), or the video display terminal (VDT)).
The conventional paging system 100 approaching throughput capacity typically may reject incoming page requests, thereby simply regulating the communication activity according to the available system resources (i.e., "supply versus demand"). Moreover, the indicated measure of communication activity may alert the system operator to increase system resources (e.g., install more memory into the paging terminal), or to increase the number of communication channels (e.g., add transmitters), and move some of the communication traffic to the new channels. When overall system throughput is constrained, the conventional imperative is to add system resources. Due to the extreme competition in today's marketplace, the consequences of not growing or adapting the system may include limiting the number of messages that may be conveyed, loss of potential revenue, loss of customer satisfaction and ultimately loss of competitiveness leading to business failure. Moreover, in a governmental or medical communication system the loss of communication may prove grave and devastating for a community.
With out increasing dependance on contemporary communication systems, which tend to grow to capacity very quickly, it is imperative that alternate means of adapting and optimally managing a communication system are available to enhance the overall system's throughput, typically measured by the amount of coummunication activity handled by the system.